


Hogwarts: A History Chapter XCIV: The Great Hogwarts Mutiny

by machiavellijr



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Historical, Historical Accuracy, Historical Inaccuracy, Hogwarts, Hogwarts: A History, Invisible fandom, Teenage Rebellion, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-05
Updated: 2014-09-05
Packaged: 2018-02-16 05:59:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2258430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/machiavellijr/pseuds/machiavellijr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This extract from the new edition of 'Hogwarts: A History' deals with one of the least creditable episodes of the school's long history; the 'Mutiny' of 1697.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hogwarts: A History Chapter XCIV: The Great Hogwarts Mutiny

Guthrum Durotrigan (Headmaster 1695-7) was a rather eccentric character to say the least. Before becoming a teacher of Defence [1], he had been a dragon-rider, big-game hunter, mercenary and court-wizard. A famously proud Gryffindor, he favoured that house shamelessly, which led to many of his problems. Under his rule, the curriculum was ‘toughened up’ considerably, as he believed that it mollycoddled the children to an excessive degree. Husbandry [2] was made compulsory, and extended to the point where dragon-riding was taught to the upper forms. The teaching of Defence was taken over by a former mercenary colleague of the Headmaster’s, who had apparently been somewhat unhinged by a Hammer-Blow Curse to the head. Whatever the cause, he developed a love for setting elaborate traps ‘in order to keep the whining little brats on their toes’. Examples of these included enchanting the decorative suits of armour to attack passing students, putting Reaction Curses on objects on which magic was commonly used (door-locks were a favourite) and concealing dangerous creatures, including a griffon, about the school. In the eighteen months after Durotrigan’s appointment, one pupil was killed outright in class and no fewer than 69 out of under 250 were severely injured.

 

Other subjects and houses were heavily marginalised; there was no Divination[3], no Potions and no study of the languages, which held a much higher profile than today. The extent of House bias is demonstrated by the fact that Gryffindor set a new record to win the House Cup with no less than 2087 points, which has never been surpassed. Similarly, the Gryffindor Quidditch team won every match to collect the cup, winning an incredible 49 penalties along the way.

 

By the Christmas of 1696, matters had come to a head. There were 19 students in the Hospital Wing, the teacher of Wandwork[3] had resigned in protest at the flagrant bias of her colleagues, six Slytherins had been suspended for looking sideways at the Defence teacher and a manticore had made its lair in the staffroom garderobe. In their desperation, the students resorted to extreme measures. The ‘trusties’[5] of Hufflepuff and Slytherin met on the Quidditch pitch at midnight on New Year and took a solemn oath to drive Durotrigan out of the school. The parchment bearing nine signatures is now visible in the Trophy Room.

 

After several false starts, the Mutiny began when Slytherin and Hufflepuff houses barricaded themselves into their Common Rooms on the morning of 12 th January. A solitary first-year was sent out to deliver demands, which called for Durotrigan’s immediate resignation, the appointment of an interim Head and fair restitution for the past two years’ injustices. These demands were refused and Durotrigan threatened to call on the Council of the Wizengamot to enforce his authority.

 

Infuriated by this abuse of power (the Council had little statutory authority over Hogwarts), the Committee of Nine determined to capture Durotrigan and hand him over to the Governors along with their demands and evidence of his misdeeds. This was to be accomplished by a frontal assault on the Headmaster’s Office. Three Hufflepuff boys used Reductor Curses to destroy the door, but Durotrigan escaped out of the window by broomstick.

 

It was after his departure that the least creditable episode of the Mutiny began. The Committee was unable to maintain discipline and riots broke out, exacerbated by Durotrigan’s Gryffindor partisans fighting (supposedly) on his behalf. After three days’ anarchy, the Council was eventually forced to send in the infamous Blackdown Rangers to quell the disturbances. These hired enforcers did more harm than good, wrecking large portions of the castle and killing one unfortunate student before order was restored. Durotrigan was captured hiding in a dragon reserve on Skye, and sentenced to transportation to Tasmania, where he was the first European wizard to tame and study the Antipodean Opaleye.

 

This episode had far-reaching consequences for the school and the community at large. The Council realised the risk of using hired wands to enforce its decisions, eventually establishing the Auror Corps and the Enforcement Patrols[4] as alternatives. Internally, the Headmaster’s powers were somewhat restricted and a formalised process of appeal to the Governors against school discipline and policy was developed. The Headmaster’s office was moved to one of the towers and made considerably more secure – the old office, with scars still visible on the walls, is now a store-room on the first floor.

 

 

_[1] The ‘Against the Dark Arts’ was not added until 1756._

_[2] Care of Magical Creatures._

_[3] Roughly Charms + Transfiguration; the subjects were not separated until Diploma (NEWT) level._

_[4] Then, and now, better known as the Leprechauns for unknown reasons._

**Author's Note:**

> With apologies to the Rugby Mutineers, who aren’t really remembered nowadays, but should be. It takes a certain style to blow the Headmaster’s door down when he complains about broken windows. Yes, that really happened - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willoughby_Cotton.  
> It was originally written for a forum challenge in about 2004; certain minor details I think might have been Jossed by DH.


End file.
